MOSCOW, February 21 (RIA Novosti) - A man died of the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain in southern China in the second confirmed case in a month, China's Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.
The 41 year-old resident of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region developed bird flu symptoms on February 12 and died on February 20, two days after being admitted to a local hospital. He became the 18th bird flu fatality on the country's record.
On January 24, the lethal virus killed a 22 year-old resident of the central Hunan Province.
In both accidents, the source of infection has yet to be established.
According to the World Health Organization, avian influenza has so far killed 230 people in 364 confirmed cases worldwide. Although there have been no incidences of human to human infection, experts fear that it may mutate into a form that could easily be transmitted from person to person, causing a global pandemic.
